Hi! I'm Courtney, the owner of Merriment Events™ in Richmond, Virginia. The Merriment Blog is a place where I can share ideas that are inspiring me. I'd love to hear from you! Please get in touch by writing to courtney {at} merrimentevents {dot} com

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birdie’s first birthday

We celebrated Birdie’s first birthday last October with our family and close friends. My friend Cyn Kain came by to take these pretty pictures. Birdie is such a happy, happy little girl, but she erupts into absolute joy at the sight of a balloon, so we had many of those in all shades of pink tied off with pretty pink satin ribbons, as well as this girly #1 balloon, which was, obviously, the highlight of the party!

I labored over her smash cake, and out of fear I’d totally bomb the icing, made a trial-run cake the week before. The cake recipe I used is from The Back in the Day Bakery cookbook. It’s the classic vanilla cupcake Back in the Day Bakery is known for — a cupcake Jon and I enjoyed on a trip to Savannah a few years ago! I used two 5″ pans and stacked the cakes. The recipe yielded just enough batter to make both cakes and nearly a dozen more cupcakes. You can find the frosting tutorial I used here.

The cake pedestal is from Sweet Shop Lulu (I ordered the 6″ round stand), and the topper (a celebration candle kid) is from The Small Object; Sarah was kind enough to paint the hair color to match Birdie’s!

We were busy birthday elves crafting lots of pretty to surprise Birdie on her big day! My husband, Jon, made party hats for pumpkins (since Birdie’s birthday is in October).

Inspired by Jon and Sherry, we made a first birthday time capsule, filling it with all sorts of things we collected and our guests gifted, from magazines, to a grocery receipt, to a newspaper. We’re looking forward to opening it when Birdie turns 18!